Couplings for pipes, particularly exhaust pipes, have been known. Prior couplings including bellows with separate inner liners and/or separate outer shields have been used in exhaust pipe environments.
Such environments are harsh. Heat produces or influences thermal changes in such pipes and couplings. Noise, vibration and harshness (hereinafter NVH) are produced by the environment of the exhaust from internal combustion engines must be handled. Motion, in the form of bending, must be accommodated as well, as pressure changes. Aspects of convection cooling affect such pipes and couplings. Mounting points for support and suspension of such couplings vary between applications but many prior couplings are not generally flexible in the location or placement of mounts.
Known coupling apparatus deals with such concerns in a variety of ways, leaving room for a great deal of improvement. Such known apparatus typically requires a separate inner liner to limit compression of the bellows, to reduce the impact of the flowing medium to the bellows, and to reduce turbulence and/or an outer shield to limit extension, to protect the bellows from a harsh environment and to add NVH damping properties. These items, i.e. liner and/or shield are usually added at considerable cost and complexity. Mounting points and hardware require a large variety of designs, adapters and the like.
In the past, bellows have been edge welded. But edge welded bellows do not have integral liners or outer shields and lack flexibility in provisions for mounting. Hydroformed, elastomeric formed, or mechanically formed bellows have been proposed. But these are limited by the material specifications and forming processes and they require separate outer shields and/or inner liners. The same material limitations evident on conventional bellows, also constrains one of its main purposes, that being durability under flexibility. Molded bellows have the same concerns as above. Additional disadvantage of a conventional bellows as described above is the complexity required to mount/hinge support conventional bellows other than on the end of the bellows.
Accordingly, it is desired to uniquely integrate all components: bellows, outer shield, and/or inner liner, mount/hinge) together to overcome and improve the features in the prior known couplings.
It is also desired to provide considerable flexibility in the bellows' convolutions so as to better optimize the overall functionality, particularly in the environmental conditions noted above.